T W E N T Y - ONE
The Voyage of the Jaredites
The Jaredites migrated to the New World from the great tower about 2800 BC. They journeyed a great distance and then crossed the ocean in 344 days. They developed a mighty nation in an area the Nephites called the Land Northward-Desolation.
INTRODUCTION
As PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED, the heartland of the Classic Period of the Jaredite civilization (1500 BC-600 BC) appears to have been along the Gulf of Mexico. That area probably continued to function as the proverbial headquarters for the Jaredites until their destruction around 300 BC. The area also may have been the central location of the Preclassic Jaredites (2500 BC- 1500 BC).
These deductions, however, do not specifically localize the landing spot of the Jaredites. Moroni, the 4th Century AD Book of Mormon writer, gave us an account of the ancient inhabitants who were destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of "THIS NORTH COUNTRY." (Ether 1: 1)
Ixtlilxochitl, who wrote in the 16th Century, also told us that the first settlers, who came from the Tower of Babel, "populated the major part of the land, and more particularly the NORTHERN PART." (Ixtlilxochitl:2 1)
The "north country" of Moroni and the "northern part" of Ixtlilxochitl are, in all probability, the Gulf of Mexico area that today is called the "faja de oro," or Golden Lane, because of the abundance of oil that has been discovered there. This is the same area where archaeology bears testimony of the most ancient civilization of Mesoamerica.
However, the above rhetoric does very little to establish the landing site of Jared and his family, the brother of Jared and his family, and their friends and their families, sometime after the confusion of tongues estimated at about 2700 BC. In fact, we can virtually land the initial colony of Jaredites about anywhere in the New World and still get them to the Gulf of Mexico in time to build the monuments that have been discovered there.
Ixtlilxochitl reported that the first settlers wandered for 104 years before they even settled in Huehue Tlapallan, along the Gulf of Mexico. This statement suggests that the Jaredites DID NOT land along the shores of Veracruz.
Be that as it may, the point here is that simply establishing the heartland of the Jaredite culture along the Gulf of Mexico in no way justifies our landing the Jaredites along either the Atlantic or the Pacific side. We must look for other "landing-site" evidence.
TOWER OFBABEL
Perhaps if we can determine where the Jaredites launched their eight barges, we may have some idea as to the side of the American continent on which they landed. The Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the 16th-Century Mexican writers all reference a great tower.
The granddaddy of the pyramids in Mesoamerica, La Venta, is located at the top of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec along the Gulf of Mexico. The largest-based pyramid in the world is located at Cholula, Puebla, between Veracruz and Mexico City and, according to Ixtlilxochitl, was built with the same idea as was the great Tower of Babel. The pyramid of Cholula was destroyed by a massive earthquake at the time of Christ. (Ixtlilxochitl:42)
The Biblical account of the great tower is as follows:
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1-9)
Shinar is the name of the place given where the great tower was built. Shinar was located in the Valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This location is in the same area where the ancient City of Ur was located, the birthplace of Abraham of old. It is generally accepted that Shinar was in the area of ancient Babylon, about 60 miles south of where the present-day city of Baghdad, in the country of Iraq, is located.
The Tower of Babel was probably a multi-storied temple-tower, or ziggurat, similar to those developed in Babylonia in the early 3rd millennium BC. (Alexander and Alexander 1974:135)
Ironically, the Jaredites lived in the Persian Gulf area and subsequently settled in the Gulf of Mexico, the two richest oil-producing areas in the world today.
The Book of Mormon refers to the Tower of Babel as "the great tower9' or just "the tower" in describing what apparently is the same event mentioned in the Bible. Moroni wrote in the Book of Ether as follows:
... Jared came forth with his brother and their families with some others and their families, from THE GREAT TOWER,at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and swore in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered. (Ether 1:33; see also Ether 1:3, 5; Omni 1:22; Mosiah 28:17; and Helaman 6:28)
Ixtlilxochitl referred to the event as both "the very high tower" and the "tower of Babel." (Ixtlilxochitl:6, 21) He reported that after the flood:
... the earth began again to be populated, [and] they built a Zacualli, very high and strong, which means "THE VERY HIGH TOWER,"to protect themselves against a second destruction of the world.
As time elapsed, their language became confounded, such that they did not understand one another; and they were scattered to all parts of the world. (Ixtlilxochitl:6-7)
Without any question, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Ixtlilxochitl are all talking about the same event. None of the accounts, however, provides us with a clue as to where the Jaredites launched their boats in the Old World or where the port was located when they landed in the New World.
A CASE FOR AN ATLANTIC CROSSING
1. Traveling in the Old World
The Book of Mon-non provides us with the following evidence, which may give us a hint about where the Jaredites set sail. Perhaps if that can be determined, we can at least surmise as to which side of the Americas the Jaredites landed on-that is, the Atlantic or the Pacific.
Ether 2:1-The Valley Which Was Northward
And it came to pass that Jared and his brother, and their families, and also the friends of Jared and his brother and their families, went down into THE VALLEY WHICH WAS NORTHWARD,(and the name of the valley was Nimrod, being called after the mighty hunter) ....
Obviously, Jared was the leader of the tribe; and, with one exception, the genealogical record from Jared to Coriantumr follows the lineage of Jared. This conclusion suggests that the Jaredite record was indeed a dynastic history, which is confirmed by the Mesoamerica Olmec tradition. More than 17 giant stone heads of the Olmec style have been uncovered. Each head is a different caricature, suggesting that each represented a ruler or someone who held a high position in the Olmec culture.
The brother of Jared was the spiritual leader of the group. Friends of both Jared and his brother accompanied them on what was to become an arduous trek. They went down into a valley that was northward of Shinar (Ur, Babylon, Baghdad). This direction took them away from the Persian Gulf and led them in the direction of the present-day country of Syria. Some 500 years later, Abraham may have followed somewhat the same route.
Ether 2:5-The Wilderness
And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should go forth into the WILDERNESS, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. . .
No direction is given, but if the Jaredites were still traveling northward from Shinar, they were traveling through the great Syrian desert or wilderness.
Ether 2:6-The Wilderness-Many Waters
And it came to pass that they did travel in the WILDERNESS, and did build barges, in which they did crossMANY WATERS .....
With the limited information available in the Book of Mormon, we have difficulty claiming accuracy from this point on. We do not know how much distance the Jaredites covered or how long they took to travel from Shinar to a place where they launched their barges to cross "many waters." Assuming they traveled in a northward direction, we are still left to speculate whether the direction was northeast or northwest.
If the Jaredites were still traveling northward, they may have launched barges in the Euphrates, although this location is unlikely as it would be upstream and would lead them only into the mountains of modem-day Turkey. Neither would it qualify for the statement of "many waters." If they reached the coastline in a northerly direction from Shinar (Iraq), they would need to launch barges on the Black Sea north of Turkey or the great Mediterranean Sea located on the western borders of Lebanon and Israel.
Of the two options, because the movement was toward the Promised Land (the Americas), the Mediterranean is apparently the most likely. This direction would carry them toward Spain and would be reminiscent of Paul the Apostle's journeys over 2,000 years later, as recorded in the New Testament.
Both the Book of Mormon and the Spanish Chronicles inform us that the Jaredites traveled great distances over both land and water. Ixtlilxochitl wrote the following about the people who came from the Tower of Babel:
. . they came to this land [Mexico], having first crossed many lands and waters, living in caves and passing through great tribulations.... (Ixtlilxochitl:8)
Ether 2:7-Beyond the Sea in the Wilderness
And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop BEYOND THE SEA IN THE WILDERNESS,.. . .
The only sea in the vicinity of the Middle Eastern World, other than the ones mentioned above, is the Red Sea. However, the Red Sea does not seem to be a likely candidate because it is in the wrong direction from the initial movement of the Jaredites and because that direction eventually would have taken them into the same ocean (Arabian Sea) that was already near the Persian Gulf from whence they originally left. In addition, the Lord ". . . stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel." (Ether 2:5)
If the Jaredites crossed the Mediterranean and eventually ended up in, let us say, Morocco or Portugal, they would then be on the borders of the great Atlantic Ocean. The mountains of Spain may have been the area described as "BEYOND THE SEA [Mediterranean] IN THE WILDERNESS." At this point, this alternative lacks credibility.
Ether 2:13-The Great Sea Which Divideth the Lands
... it came to pass that the Lord did bring Jared and his brethren forth even to that GREAT SEA WHICH DIVIDETH THE LANDS. And as they came to the SEA they pitched their tents; and they called the name of the place Moriancumer; and they dwelt in tents upon the seashore for the space of four years.
If we follow this line of reasoning, then the GREAT SEA WHICH DIVIDETH THE LANDS is the Atlantic Ocean, which divides the European and American continents. The Jaredites called the name of the place by the seashore "Moriancumer," after the brother of Jared. A Mesoamerica (New World) tradition was to name the place of settlement after the person who first possessed it. (See Alma 8:7 and Ixtlilxochitl:22.) Joseph Smith identified the name of the brother of Jared as Mahonri Moriancumer.
Ether 3:3-Wilderness-Raging Deep
. . for these many years we have been in the wilderness; ... suffer not that they shall go forth across this RAGING DEEP in darkness; ....
The colony of Jared had lived in Moriancumer, which was by "the Great Sea which divides the lands," for four years. At the end of four years, the Lord appeared to the brother of Jared and talked with him for three hours, chastening him for not remembering to call upon the Lord. The Lord further instructed the brother of Jared to construct barges after the manner of barges they had previously built to cross what is proposed in Option I to be the Mediterranean Sea. (See Ether 3.)
The above scripture reports that MANY YEARS had elapsed from the time Jared and his group had left the area of the great tower (Shinar). The Lord reminded the brother of Jared that the Jaredites had not completed their journey, as they still needed to cross the ocean to the land of promise (America).
2. Crossing the Ocean
However, before the Jaredites could cross the ocean, the brother of Jared had the awesome responsibility of building barges in which they could transport animals and provisions as well as people. Geographical hints relevant to crossing the ocean are as follows:
Ether 3:1-Mount Shelem
And it came to pass that the brother of Jared, (now the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight) went forth unto the mount, which they called the mount Shelem .....
The colony needed eight vessels to transport its people, provisions, and animals to the New World. Furious winds drove them across the ocean to the Promised Land.
And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.
And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.
And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.
And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.
And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.
And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water.
And they did land upon the shore of the promised land (Ether 6:6-12)
To justify an Atlantic crossing, we need to allow for a considerable amount of lost time, as only two to four months are normally required to cross the Atlantic from Morocco to Veracruz.
Those who favor an Atlantic Ocean crossing quote Sahagun as a source for the first settlers' landing on the shores of Veracruz, Mexico. His statement, however, may have been referring to the Mulekites or to some other group. Sahagun states:
Concerning the origin of these people, the report the old men give is that they came by sea from the north, and true it is that they came in some wooden boats but it is not known how they were hewn, but it is conjectured by a report found among all these natives that they came from seven caves, and that these seven caves are the seven ships or galleys in which the first settlers of this land came, as gathered from likely conjectures.